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AUBURN, Mass. – In a much-anticipated battle of unbeatens Friday night, the Auburn High School football team scored early and often in an impressive win over Shepherd Hill, exacting revenge in the process.
Nearly 365 days ago, Shepherd Hill ended Auburn’s 41-game win streak, the longest in the state at the time. But Friday night, in front of an electric, packed-to-capacity crowd at Auburn High School, the Rockets were dominant in a 35-6 rout over the Fighting Rams.
“That’s an outstanding football team right there, and I’m proud the way our kids played,” head coach Jeff Cormier said. “In order to beat a team of that quality, you need to have everybody playing together and everybody contributing, and I think we had that tonight.
“It’s one thing to execute, but to execute against a team of that quality is something special,” he added.
Four Auburn players combined to score five touchdowns, and kicker Steve St. Jean made all five point-after-touchdowns.
But it didn’t start great for Auburn. The Rockets were forced to punt after an incomplete pass from quarterback Drew Goodrich to wide receiver Nate Conway on their first drive.
However, after Auburn’s defense stymied the Fighting Rams, the Rockets put it together on their second possession. After a first-down pass from Goodrich to fullback Bob Sivret, bringing the ball to the 2-yard line, running back Tyler Desjardins took a hand-off to the left, evaded a tackler and scored with one minute left in the first quarter.
“Offensive line, that’s all I have to say,” Desjardins said. “Without them, we would not be getting those first 5 yards and opening up holes.”
Then Sivret set up another score in the second quarter with a powerful 15-yard carry up the middle. This was followed by a 4-yard touchdown by running back Mark Wright right up the gut with 6:18 left in the half.
Auburn extended its lead to 21-0 before halftime as the team ran a one-minute drill that went 70 yards. Goodrich first connected with wide receiver Dom DiCarlo for 20 yards and then Desjardins sprinted for 28 yards, setting up a 22-yard touchdown pass to Conway. The tall wide receiver used his height advantage, jumping up for the fade pass in the end zone with 16 seconds left in the half.
It was more of the same in the third quarter as Sivret powered his way for two touchdowns. Desjardins set up the first score with a 35-yard run to the 8-yard line. Sivret then stormed his way up the middle for a 5-yard score.
Then with 1:24 in the third quarter, Sivret broke tackle after tackle on his way to a 20-yard touchdown, padding the lead to 35-0.
The Rockets let up a touchdown in the fourth quarter as running back Zachary Goddard scored, but it was too little, too late for the Fighting Rams.
Auburn moved to 5-0 and extended its win streak to 13 games.
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